Authors : Hudu A. Shuaibu and Abdulgafar O. Jimoh
Abstract: Al-Majiri is a child sent to learn the religion of Islam. They leave their villages to cities to stay with their mallams (teachers). Al-Majiri is seen and identified with some unique features of destitution and seen as constituting a nuisance to others in the community. It is a cross-sectional descriptive study with a total of 377 subjects’ recruited base on eligibility criteria using interviewer administered questionnaire. It was found that 257 (68.4%) belong to the family of peasant farmers and only 27 (7.2%) come from a working class family. The average number of children in a family of the study subjects was seven. About 65.1% of the study subjects belong to birth order of 1-4. About 65.8% of the family practice polygamy with an average of two wives. Concerning their health problems, majority of the subjects (60.4%) rarely took bath i.e., bath once a month and (66.7%) do not have the habit of brushing their teeth. Majority (59.7%) have Urinary Tract Infection as the major health problem followed by skin diseases (17.8%) In conclusion, UTI and skin diseases were identified as the major health problems which are mostly due to poor health habits. It was found that socio economic status, life style and behavioural adaption is also contributory to their many health problems.
Hudu A. Shuaibu and Abdulgafar O. Jimoh, 2011. Assessment of Socioeconomic, Demographic and Health Problems of Al-Majiri in Sokoto State, North-Western Nigeria. International Journal of Tropical Medicine, 6: 58-60.